Identification pattern systems, such as fingerprinting systems, play a critical role in modern society in providing public safety, such as for criminal identification, and in civil applications such as credit card or personal identity fraud. The accuracy of matching one set of records to a second set of files quickly has become integral to a safe and efficient society.
Modern automatic fingerprint identification systems (AFIS) may perform several hundred thousand to a few million comparisons of prints, including fingerprints and palm prints, per second. In a typical search scenario a print (referred to typically as a search record) may be compared against millions of prints (typically referred to as file records) that are stored in the database of the identification systems. In these identification systems, a matching algorithm produces a list of the file record candidates that are the closest to the search records based on minutiae characteristics. Examples of such systems are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,101; U.S. Pat. No. 4,135,147; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,125,192.
Matching accuracy with instant speed is imperative to provide useful data for the many identification applications. Often a latent print, such as one left at a crime scene, is partially obscured, smudged, or contains background noise that may decrease the accuracy of matching the minutiae of the latent print to reference files. Thus, more matched records must be subsequently hand searched by a latent examiner to provide the accurate information required. In exchange for accuracy, however, the process is slower and more laborious.
To improve accuracy, designers have focused on obtaining better latent and reference prints, organizing data in databases to better match prints such as using orientation and zoom features, and designing systems that are more robust. However, enhancing substantial accuracy with speed remains a goal in this area. Thus, it would be desirable to have an improved matching minutiae system and method that achieves substantially increased accuracy without sacrificing speed in the identification process.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that elements in the Figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the Figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention.